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Background: In the modern world, patient safety and the safe use of medicines are of a high priority. Huge competition exists among pharmaceutical manufacturers resulting in medicinal products being registered and marketed in many countries simultaneously. Because of this, adverse drug reactions (ADR) may not always be readily identified or monitored systematically. In order to minimize or prevent harm to patients arising from their drugs, pharmacists can play a vital role in both ADR reporting and pharmacovigilance activities. Rates of ADR reporting can be improved by promoting awareness of its importance and the procedures for doing so, and this is best done during undergraduate pharmacy education. Pharmacy students must be trained well on how to recognize, prevent, and report ADRs. Lack of knowledge about ADR reporting process is associated with negative attitudes towards the pharmacovigilance. Objectives: We aim in this study to assess pharmacy students’ knowledge and perception towards pharmacovigilance and adverse drug reaction reporting. Methodology: a Cross-sectional study was conducted between in the period of February 2017 to April 2017 using a self-administered questionnaire to a sample population of 118 pharmacy students from University of Nizwa and Oman Medical College. Univariate analysis was done to the collected data. Results: The response rate of the survey was 79%. The study revealed that mean knowledge score of the pharmacy students for pharmacovigilance and ADR reporting was 8.65 (±2.91) Significant differences in the mean score of the knowledge in domains of study institution and nationality of the pharmacy students were observed. Majority of the respondents answered correctly the definitions of pharmacovigilance (61%) and ADRs (55.9%). About 81.35%of the respondents answered correctly about the question related to the required data that should be collected for the assessment of a suspected ADR. Almost 61 % of the pharmacy students had a correct knowledge about…

Ibadan, a typical West African City, emerged from a traditional rural land use as a result of its socio-economic, educational, traditional and political uses. The perceived rapid growth of the now peripheral areas from the core Central Business District (CBD) tends to undermine a regimented planned land use system and as such constituting a menace to government zoning plans. This paper, therefore, synthesizes three epochs remotely sensed satellite images: 1972 Landsat (MSS), 1986 Landsat Thematic Mapping(TM) and 2000 Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+) obtained from the USGS glcf website to examine the observed changes in land cover and land use pattern as well as urban growth process in Ibadan. GIS and remote sensing methods were used for image-processing, classification, and results from analyses. The study showed that in 1972, the buildup was 107 km2, it increased to 192 km2 in 1986 and almost doubled in 2000 (381 km2). The 2010 projection was 760 km2 and it is projected to 1520 km2 in 2020. The study further indicates that the city follows a trend of doubling in area size at least in every ten years. Decongesting the CBD through the provision of social amenities in the proximal urban fringes and rural areas are considered the most potent ways to remedy the seemingly urban menace

This study was conducted in the Atwima Nwabiagya district; and it provides an empirical example of how a community integrates alternative livelihood activities as part of their livelihood through their own initiatives. A qualitative case study approach was used in this study. Snowball sampling technique was used to select 20 respondents for this study. Interview guide was used to glean data from the cocoa farmers. This was augmented with observation. Results show that alternative livelihood activities have significantly improved household income and consequently increased household standard of living. The study also found that the benefits of alternative livelihood activities are distributed across all households within the community as all households were engaged in at least one alternative livelihood activity. Households benefit directly from alternative livelihood through access to cash. Access to cash opened up opportunities for households to venture into other livelihood activities within the study community; and also use part to maintain their traditional livelihood. The study recommends to the district assembly to provide technical back‐up support systems to enhance the long‐term effects of any planned alternative livelihood on farmers’ incomes. Again, any planned intervention must avoid the handout syndrome so as to ensure it sustainability.